Door fastener



Nnv. 25,

F. ANDREAS DOOR FASTENER Filed Aug. 6, 1923 IN VENTOE Frederfa fin a4 aas.

Patented Nov. 25, 1924 NITED rannnnrcx ANDREAS, or sn'nonrs, rrrssonra.

DOOR

Application filed August 6, 1923. Serial No. 655,884.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, FREDERICK ANDREAS, a citizen of the United States,residing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented a certain new and usefulIm rovement in Door Fasteners, of which the ollowing is a full, clear,and exact description, such as 'will enable others skilled in the art towhich it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to door fasteners of the kind that are usedprincipally on screen doors, and has for its object to provide a doorfastener of simple design and inexpensive. construction that can beapplied easily without the services of a skilled mechanic, and which isequipped with an efficient locking device.

Figure 1of the drawings is a perspective view, showing my improvedfastener applied to da screen door, with the door partly open; an

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view, showing the door closed.

The fastener is composed of a rigid element A attached. to the innerside of the portion :0 of the door that strikes against the jamb 3 ofthe door frame, and a resilient element B attached to the inner side ofthe door jamb y and arranged at substantially right angles to the rigidmember A in such a way that when the door swings towards the door jambinto its closed position, a part on the rigid element A will strikeagainst the front end of the resilient element B and move the free endof said resilient element laterally, thereby permitting it to snap intoengagement with the element A on the door, and thus temporarily hold thedoor in its closed position. When the door is moved away from the doorjamb 3 to open the door, the rigid element A on the door will exertpressure on the free end of the resilient element B on the door jamb insuch a Way as to cause saidv element B to yield, and thus move out ofinterlocking engagement with the element A on the door. order to lockthe door in its closed position, a locking device C is mounted on the riid element A on the door in such a manner t at when it is moved in onedirection, it will engage the free end of the resilient element B on thedoor jamb, and thus prevent the co-operating interlocking portions onthe elements A and B from being disengaged while said locking device isin this 0sition.

The elements A and B and the loc ing dellnj vice C can be formed invarious ways with- I operating hook-shaped portion 2 that snaps intointerlocking engagement with the hookshaped portion 1 of the rigidelement when the door is moved into its closed position. The locklngdevice 0 is formed preferably by'a cam or eccentrically-mounted art onthe rigld element A that is adapte to be turned forwardly intoengagementwith the hook-shaped portion 2 so as to hold same in interlockingengagement with the hookshaped portion 1, and turned rearwardly so as topermit the free end of the resilient element B to flex or move away fromthe door amb y when the door is subjected to pressure in a directiontending to move it away from the door jamb.

The rigid element A on the door can be formed convenientlyfrom a flatmetal strip bent to form a connecting portion that is adapted to bearranged flatwise on the inner side of the part a: of the door andsecured to same by fastening devices, and a rightangularly-disposed partprojecting inwardly from said connecting portion and provided at itsinner end with a reversely bent lip or flange that 'is disposedvertically, at substantially right angles to the door jamb y when thedoor is closed. The resilient element B is preferably formed from a flatstrip of spring material nipped with holes through which fasteningevices 3 can be inserted to connect it to the inner side of the doorjamb and having its front end or free end bent in such a way as to forma V- shaped ortion 2 that co-o crates with the hooked-s aped portion ont e rigid element A on the door. The locking device 0 is formedpreferably from a small casting, forging or stamping pivotally connectedat 4 to the element A on the door and equipped with a finger piece 4that is used to move said locking device into and out of its lockingposition, the element A having a stop 5, formed by a screw that securesthe element A to the door, against which the locking device G strikeswhen said locking device is moved into engagement with the re silientelement B.

A door fastener of the construction above described is inexpensive tomanufacture, it

' only necessary to swing it in one direction so,

as to securely hold the elements A and B of the fastener in interlockingengagement with each other. In addition to the desirable features abovepointed out, my imthere is little liability of the parts of samebreaking or becoming bent in such a way as to render the fastenerinoperative, as so often occurs with many oft-he various types of screendoor fasteners now-in general use;

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Let-- ters Patent is:

1. A door fastener, comprising a rigid element arranged on the innerside of the part of the door that strikes against the .edge of the doorjamb and provided with an inwardly-projecting, hook-shaped ortion thatextends along the side face 0 the jamb when the door is closed, aresilient element arranged on the side 'face of the door j amb andprovided at its free end with a V-shaped portion on which the hookshapedportion on said rigid element exerts pressure in such a direction duringthe clos- 1ng movement of the door as to cause the resilient element toflex and thus permit the ti-shaped portion of same to snap into lockingengagement with the rigid element on the door, and a pivotally-mountedlocking device on the door that is adapted to be moved into lockingengagement with naraeee the V-shaped portion of said resilienteleelement ad-a ted to be arranged flat-wise on the inner si e face of adoor jamb in a subv stantially horizontal position and formed from astrip of'sprin material bent so as to produce a ti-shape portion on thefree end of said resilient element whose apex is presented towards theside face of the jamb, and a rigid element ada ted to be connected tothe inner side of t e part of the door that strikes against the edge ofproved door fastener is of such design thatwthe door jamb and formedfrom a rigid metal strip that is bent to produce an mwardly-p'rojectingportion that extends along the side face of the jamb when the door isclosed and a reversely bent part which snaps into interlockingengagement with the if-shaped portion on said resilient element when t edoor moves into its closed position.

3. A door fastener, comprising a rigid element arranged on the innerside'of the part of the door that strikes against the door iamb andprovided with an inwardly-prm jecting part that has a reversely-bentterminal portion, a resilient element arranged on the inner side face ofthe door jamb at right angles to said rigid element and provided with aV-shaped terminal portion that snaps into interlocking'engagement withthe terminal portion on said rigid element when the door moves into itsclosed position, and a pivotally-mounted cam on said rigid elementprovided with a finger piece by which said camican be moved into and outof engagement with the V-Shfififld portion of said resilient element to100 and release the door.

FREDERICK ANDREAS.

